Several airports in Germany are also affected by strikes on Friday (March 17).
Air travelers have to be prepared for delays and cancellations.
Update from March 17, 1 p.m.:
Air travelers must also expect long waiting times, delays and cancellations on Friday (March 17).
The reason for this are further strikes at German airports.
Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn airports are said to be particularly affected.
There should be a strike all day "We have a good participation, the mood is determined," said a spokesman for Verdi.
The dpa
reports that a total of around 500 employees from various areas, such as passenger or goods control, are taking part in the strike
.
Passengers are advised to check with their airline or tour operator prior to arrival.
According to preliminary information, around 100 of the 148 planned take-offs and landings at Cologne/Bonn Airport should not take place.
In addition, there should be flight diversions.
+
Two thirds of the flights at Cologne/Bonn Airport are said to be cancelled.
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Strikes at airports have begun: Cancellations and delays are looming in Germany today
Update from March 13, 6:13 a.m .:
The all-day warning strike at the airports in Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover and at the capital airport Berlin-Brandenburg BER have begun.
This was confirmed by the spokesman for the Verdi union of the
German Press Agency (dpa)
.
This means that tens of thousands of air travelers have to prepare for delays and cancellations.
As the dpa reports, around 200 departures have been canceled in Berlin alone.
In Hamburg, 123 planned starts were canceled.
The strike would also affect at least 50 of the originally planned 121 landings in the Hanseatic city.
But there could also be restrictions at airports throughout Germany.
Travelers are asked to check flight status with their airline.
Strike at airports: failures are imminent today - which cities are affected
First report from March 12:
Berlin – Not a week goes by without a strike: on Monday, March 13, 2023, air travelers will now have to prepare for disruptions.
Tens of thousands of passengers are said to be affected by the delays and cancellations.
The Verdi union has called for a walkout.
Airport operations are paralyzed in several major German cities.
Call from Verdi: On Monday, numerous airports throughout Germany will be on strike
Among other things, the airports in Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen and BER in Berlin are to be struck by the Verdi union from Monday.
This should also have an impact on other airports.
The union has called on security guards and other workers to take industrial action.
Longer waiting times and even flight cancellations are to be expected, Verdi said on Saturday (March 11).
According to the airport association ADV, 351 departures are currently being cancelled.
45,000 passengers are directly affected.
A total of over 100,000 affected passengers are said to be affected, as flights from other airports will also be cancelled.
The association criticizes that travelers would once again become a pawn in the labor dispute.
He complained that the announcement had come at short notice.
The passengers would hardly have a chance to look for alternatives.
This could affect families in particular, since spring break is currently underway in many federal states.
Strikes are currently occurring more frequently in many parts of Germany.
Verdi buses and trains were recently on strike.
But that's not all: Daycare centers also went on strike in large parts of the country, including in Lower Saxony in Bremen.
In February of that year, there were failures at the post office.
There, too, the Verdi union is demanding higher salaries for the employees.
As a result, many packages were not delivered or arrived late.
Verdi: That's why the airports in Germany are on strike
According to the Verdi union, the background to the Germany-wide strikes is the unsuccessful collective bargaining for the payment of aviation security workers.
This applies above all to working at unfavorable times.
But negotiations for employees in ground handling services and employees in the public sector at federal and local level also played a role.
According to its own statements, Verdi has been in negotiations with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) for years.
The surcharges have not been improved since 2006, and there has been talk of an increase since 2013.
It was most recently agreed in early 2019 to continue negotiations on this.
According to Verdi, they were recorded in January and continued in February 2020.
Then came the sudden standstill.
Because of the pandemic, the talks were not continued by the BDLS.
According to Verdi, the BDLS was only ready to negotiate the demands after a new agreement in the 2022 pay scale round.
The employers have not yet submitted an offer.
The BDLS initially had no comment.
The aviation industry associations (BDL) recently attracted attention when they announced climate-neutral flying by 2050 in a joint paper with the think tank Zentrum Liberale Moderne.
New Verdi strikes: These airports will be on strike on Monday
At the capital's BER airport, the warning strike is scheduled to begin at 3:30 a.m. on Monday and end at midnight.
According to BER, almost 200 departures will be canceled in Berlin.
Around 27,000 passengers will be affected by the one-day strike.
There will be no regular flights from Hamburg Airport from Sunday evening to Monday evening.
"Because the passengers cannot pass through the checkpoint, which is under strike, all 123 planned departures will be canceled or will take place without passengers," said Hamburg Airport on Sunday.
The strike at Hamburg Airport should start earlier than the one at BER.
In Hamburg, Verdi called around 2,000 employees to a 24-hour warning strike at the start of the night shift on Sunday around 10 p.m.
The airport expects significant restrictions for tens of thousands of travelers.
Airport spokeswoman Janet Niemeyer considers this to be a rather unfavorable time: "And that's in the middle of the March holidays in Hamburg, which are a popular travel time for families with children."
According to Verdi, it can be assumed at the airports in Hanover and Bremen that no passenger aircraft will be able to take off or land on the day of the strike.
In Hanover, 35 departures and 34 arrivals were planned for Monday.
From midnight on Sunday, no air traffic should be possible at the airports for 24 hours.
There, the timing of the strike is less annoying than in Hamburg: "It's very annoying for the passengers, but there are still no holidays in Lower Saxony," said a spokeswoman for the airport.
20 departures and 19 arrivals were scheduled in Bremen.
Verdi strikes at airports are sometimes criticized
ADV general manager Ralph Beisel accused Verdi of abusing the airports in the public service wage dispute as a public platform for enforcing their demands.
It is also unacceptable for the airport operators that Verdi's negotiations with employers in the aviation security industry are mixed up with collective bargaining in the public sector.
It is completely ignored that airlines and airports are recovering from the deepest crisis in aviation.
Due to the corona pandemic, the number of passengers fell throughout Germany.
In 2019, more than 226 million people flew through Germany, in 2022 there were only 155 million passengers.
The union is demanding 10.5 percent more wages, but at least 500 euros more per month, for around 2.5 million employees in the federal and local public services nationwide.
The employer side has so far offered five percent more money in two steps and one-off payments of 2500 euros.
The third round of negotiations is scheduled for March 27-29 in Potsdam.
It is still unclear whether there will be further strikes after that and will probably depend on the results achieved.
List of rubrics: © Oliver Berg/dpa
